Deep Blood – Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1990
Directors: Raffaele Donato, Joe D'Amato
Writer: George Nelson Ott
Cast: Frank Baroni, Cort McCown, Keith Kelsch, James Camp, Charlie Brill, Mitzi McCall, Laura Gemser

Release Date: April 27th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 94 Minutes 23 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono Italian
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Shot on location in Florida surf and Rome swimming pools, D'Amato combines '80s teen movie clichés and Native American mysticism with stupefying dialogue, over-the-top performances and shark footage that Bruno Mattei would later swipe for Cruel Jaws." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "now scanned in 2K from the original negative for the first time ever".

Deep Blood comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 23 GB

Feature: 22.9 GB

The source used for this transfer is in great shape. Colors look correct, image clarity and black levels look strong throughout.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and DTS-HD mono mix in Italian. Both audio mixes sound clean, clear and balanced. Included with this release are removable English SDH subtitles for the English language track. Unfortunately, there are no English subtitles for the Italian language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release are limited to a trailer for Deep Blood (3 minutes 29 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Summary:

Whenever there was a successful film, Italian cinema always found a way to exploit said film by making cheap knockoffs. Case in point Deep Blood, a film that was clearly inspired by Jaws. And though Italian films inspired by Jaws reached their apex by the mid-1980’s. That didn’t stop a film like Deep Blood from happening.

Joe D'Amato the main creative force behind Deep Blood was a gifted cinematographer and craftsman director who could stretch his resources well beyond their means. Deep Blood, like most of Filmirage’s 1980’s output, takes advantage of location shooting in America. And most of the cast are unknown or first time actors.

Though Deep Blood does a good job exploiting its limited resources. The result is a predictable film that’s further hampered by an anemic narrative and the kill scenes are mediocre. That said, Deep Blood is a mildly entertaining film that fans of Italian Z grade cinema will get the most mileage out of.

Written by Michael Den Boer